Born in 1960, Balwant Thakur is one of the most creative theatre directors of the country who have given a new identity to Indian theatre with their highly innovative theatre productions. Decorated with the highest Indian honor in performing arts i.e, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Direction in theatre, Balwant Thakur is credited for being the youngest theatre director of India who has participated over two hundred National Theatre Festivals as director, which is a record in the country. Known as a magic man of theatre, his outstanding visual poetics on stage like ‘Ghumayee’ ‘Bawa Jitto’ ‘Suno Eh Kahani’ and ‘Mahabhoj’ have vibrated the theatre scene of North India.

Credited for bringing Dogri theatre to the National and International limelight, he has been highly instrumental in creating a new cultural renaissance in the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

He started theatre with a big bang and his maiden entry in the State Academy theatre Festival won the State Academy Award for best production in 1983 and continued this tradition of winning State Academy Awards for best productions in 1984, 1985, and till he left participating the festival in 1986. He represented the State of Jammu & Kashmir twice in the North Zone theatre festival organized by Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi and won top honors at the National level in the year 1987 and 1990.

He got The Ford Foundation (USA) Grant Award for his research project ‘Search for a New Theatre Language’. This gave a new flip to his creative endeavours and he won the rarest honors like ‘Abhinayak Samman’ ‘Saptrishi Samman’ and ‘Kala Nidhi Purskar’ In Children’s theatre, Balwant Thakur is one among the very few theatre directors of the country who have revolutionized the theatre scene and have evolved a new dramaturgy for children. His plays like ‘Mere Hisse Ki Dhoop Kahan Hai’ ‘Aap Hamare Hain Kaun’ and ‘Bhag Beta Bhag’ are being credited as the most demanded children productions which have been featured in almost all the major theatre events in India.
Widely traveled Balwant Thakur held his presentations in Bangkok (Thailand) Singapore, London, Oxford, Brighton, Stratford, Berlin, Frankfurt, (Germany), Rome (Italy)  Moscow, Yoroslov, Belgrade, St. Petersburg, Turkey, Denmark,  Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhaabi, and Dhaka.
Presently he is working on a project ‘Origin and Development of Dogri Theatre’ supported by Department of Culture, Govt., of India. Currently heading Natrang, Jammu….the first full-time professional cultural Institution of J&K.